1. Field
The disclosed aspects relate generally to communications between and/or within devices and specifically to methods and systems for improving paging and other signaling in wireless environments that include low power base stations.
2. Background
Advances in wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as, for example, voice, data, and so on. Typical wireless communication systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access systems may include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and the like. Additionally, the systems can conform to specifications, such as those published by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP long term evolution (LTE), ultra mobile broadband (UMB), evolution data optimized (EV-DO), etc.
Generally, wireless multiple-access communication systems may simultaneously support communication for multiple mobile devices. Each mobile device may communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from base stations to mobile devices, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from mobile devices to base stations. Further, communications between mobile devices and base stations may be established via single-input single-output (SISO) systems, multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, and so forth. In addition, mobile devices can communicate with other mobile devices (and/or base stations with other base stations) in peer-to-peer wireless network configurations.
To supplement conventional base stations, additional low power base stations can be deployed to provide more robust wireless coverage to mobile devices. For example, low power base stations (e.g., which can be commonly referred to as Home NodeBs or Home eNBs, collectively referred to as H(e)NBs, femtocell nodes, pico nodes, micro nodes, etc.) can be deployed for incremental capacity growth, richer user experience, in-building or other specific geographic coverage, and/or the like. In some configurations, such low power base stations are connected to the Internet via broadband connection (e.g., digital subscriber line (DSL) router, cable or other modem, etc.), which can provide the backhaul link to the mobile operator's network. In this regard, low power base stations are often deployed in homes, offices, etc. without consideration of a current network environment.
In addition, such low power base stations can employ one or more area identifiers, such as a location area code, tracking area code, routing area code, color code etc., which can be used in transmitting paging signals for one or more devices. The devices can utilize the area identifier to determine whether paging signals related to the devices can be received from the low power base stations. If not, for example, the devices can register in the area defined by the area identifier to receive paging signals related to the devices, and the low power base stations can accordingly page the devices where device-related communications (e.g., a voice call) are received from the mobile network. Where neighboring low power base stations have varying area identifiers, for example, this can cause frequent signaling from one or more devices to constantly register in the new area when reselecting among low power base stations and/or high power base stations.